ARCADIA – The second it happened, Arcadia High School boys soccer coach Jason Franz shook his head in disbelief.

Apaches forward Omar Elmasri already had scored two goals and was about to add another.

The junior forward caught Pasadena goalkeeper David Flores out of position on a breakaway in the second half, leaving himself with an open net and a free path to the goal.

But instead of tapping home his third goal of the match, Elmasri stopped a foot before the goal line, fell to his stomach, and flicked it in with his head.

The goal in the 55th minute gave the Apaches a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Bulldogs, but the center referee didn’t enjoy Elmasri’s humor.

He issued an unsportsmanlike red card to the forward, who now must miss Monday’s big Pacific League showdown at Hoover.

The defending league champion Apaches (10-4-5, 6-1-2) still are in first with two weeks remaining, but losing a key player in a tight race was not what Franz had in mind.

“It’s a good win, but you don’t want to win and have silly things happen,” Franz said. “We lose one of our top players going into a Hoover game that could be for first place.

“It just kills me. I don’t think he (Elmasri) meant anything malicious by it, like he was trying to show up Pasadena. But he was being cute, and cute got him in trouble.”

What got the struggling Bulldogs (4-8-3, 1-6-3) in trouble was trying continuously to play an off-side trap against a speedy Apaches front line and midfield.

Elmasri scored his first goal in the 20th minute on a breakaway after a through pass from Patrick Chin for a 1-0 lead. He scored on another breakaway in the 36th minute for a 2-0 lead.

Bulldogs coach Cherif Zein felt the first goal was offside. There were only two referees when the first goal was scored. The center referee showed up 30 minutes into the match.

“They (Arcadia) were easily 2 yards off on their first goal,” Zein said. “It’s very hard to pull traps when you have two referees who are unorganized and out of position. Imagine a football game with only one ref. It makes it kind of tough.

“But Arcadia was Arcadia, so give them credit. We gave them a lot of space in the back, and they took advantage of it enough times to get the victory.”

Pasadena’s Jonathan Gamez headed home a free-kick cross from Tony Ramirez to cut the Apaches lead to 3-1 in the 65th minute.

But Arcadia’s Matt Swanson answered a couple minutes later, finishing a tipped save along the right side for a comfortable 4-1 lead in the 67th minute.

Other than the red card to Elmasri, Franz was pleased with the Apaches’ overall play, but wished they would have finished more chances.

The Apaches missed at least three breakaway opportunities.

“We were offside a lot in the first half, but we also had two or three breakaways that we didn’t finish,” Franz said. “We played a little bit smarter in the second half.”